Air guide for oil burners



Oct. 19, 1954 B. K. BREED AIR GUIDE FOR OIL BURNERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Feb. 21, 1952 INVENTOR Ban 222L111 11. Breed ATTORNEY Oct. 19,1954 B. K. BREED 2,692,015

AIR GUIDE FOR OIL BURNERS Filed Feb. 21, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYPatented Oct. 19, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AIR GUIDE FOR OIL BURNERS Bowman"K..Breed,.Garden City,.N..Y., assignorto Preferred Utilities Manufacturing Corporation, New York, N.. Y acorporation of Delaware Application February 21, 1952', SerialNo;272,833

8 Claims. 1.

This invention relates to" oil burnersand has particular-reference to animproved arrangement for controlling. the path of flow of' the air.supplied for combustion in burners of the mechanical atomizing type.

An object of theinvention is to so control the flow of air. dischargedin an annular. path surrounding the atomizing nozzle-thatintimatemixture of air and oil droplets is obtained.

Still another object is to so control theflow path of the air that itmay be variedto obtaina wide Or bushy flame or a narrow elongated-flame;depending entirely upon the needs inherent for any particularinstallation.

Arrangements seeking these same objectives have been devised heretoforebut for various reasons have proved. unsatisfactory; A particular objectof this invention is to eliminate the objectionable features of sucharrangements as have been made available, such as circumferentiallyspaced radially extending flexible vanes which may be flexed to oneposition or another for controlling the path of air flow,.described inRuff Patent 2,280,638,. and such arrangements as Ravnsbeck 2,522,131describes. wherein the blades are composite in nature, one of the twocomponent sections being. adjustable with reference to the other about apivot point to vary the overall contour of a. continuous blade. In. suchstructures as Ravnsbeck discloses, andin all others of which I am.aware, the guidebladeswhich are in some way adjustable to vary the pathof flow of the air are in efiectcontinuous.

In carrying out. my invention I utilize. two rugged parts in the form ofcastings having integral therewith cooperating air guide blades orvanes, the two castings being rotatable withrespect to each other toadjust for varying directional movement of the air. Allofthe pivot pinsand interengaging parts subject to wear and tear, etc., which are anecessary part ofv the prior art devices. to which reference has beenmade, are eliminated by my construction.

Still another object of the invention is to increase the' flexibilityand delicacy of adjustment for varying the nature of the flame obtained.Heretofore it has been customary when adjusting to change the directionof flow-of all of the air discharged around the burner nozzle. Theadjustment provided by my invention results in a change of direction offlow of some, only of the air supply as distinguished from the total airsupply and in effect results in a splitting of the flow, permitting someof the air to continue in a predetermined fixedpath while deflecting theremainder of the air as desired.

. parts throughout the several figures, and where- Fig. 1 is alongitudinal section througha, burner. embodying my improvedaair guide;

Fig. 2. is a section along line 22 of Fig. I;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the air guide plate;

Fig.4 is a sectionthroughd-lof Fig. 3;

Fig.5 is a rear elevation of the cover for the fan casing, and

Fig. 6 isa partial section along 66 of Fig, 5.

My invention has been illustrated as embodied in a moreor lessconventional type of rotary oil burner of the mechanical atomizing typewhich embodies an oil feed. tube ill through which oil under pressureissupplied. to a fuel tube tipt2 surrounded by a motor-driven rotaryatomizing cup 14.

Within. the fan casing I6 is a rotary fan l8 which is motor driven. Fancasing cover 20' is secured to the casing by means of circumferentiallyspaced bOlts- 22; the cover being flared out.- wardly to. form a centralopening in the form ofa tapered air discharge nozzle 24 which surroundsthe: atomizing assembly. Qther conventional parts are secured integrallywith the cover. 20-, such as the nozzle shield. 26 within which is anigniter. assembly 28 and the ignition junction box 35 which is securedto furnace plate 32 surrounding the nozzle shield.

Beferring now particularly to my improved air guide arrangement,. aseries. of curved. vanes or bladesM-are cast integrally with fan casingcover 20.. These blades are spaced circumferentially around. the outermarginal inside surface of the cover, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. In.the arrangement disclosed wherein there are six blades or vanes 3'4casti'ntegral with the casing cover 25!, each alternate blade isprovided at its inner end with a lug 36' which is bored and internallythreaded to receive a bolt for. purposesv to be described hereinafter.

Cooperable with the cover 20 and its integrally cast inwardly extendingvanes 34'is a guide plate 38 whichis of substantially the same diameteras the cover plate 25, but somewhat less for reasons that are apparent.Cast integrally with guide plate 38 are a series of vanes or blades 4'0which are spaced cir-cumferentially around the plate in the same manneras vanes 34 and are adapted to cooperate therewith. Circumferentiallyspaced around guide plate 38 outside the outer. margins of vanes 40 area series of arcuate slots 42" cover 2:! from movement in acounterclockwise.

direction to movement in a longitudinal plane of the oil shaft. If notfurther turned, this air would travel forward through the passage aroundthe atomizer and leave the air nozzle traveling parallel to the shaft. Anarrow, long, straight fire would result.

However, vanes 34 are, in effect, extended by secondary vanes 48 whichfurther turn the in-' coming air and cause it to follow a clockwiserotation around the shaft. This clockwise rotation is maintained as theair moves forward toward the air nozzle. The degree of rotationdetermines the angle of the fire. If maximum clockwise rotation isprovided by secondary vanes 49 the angle of fire will be increased. Theflame will be wide and short and have a maximum atomization and flameretention. This maximum effect is obtained when the air guide casting 33having integral therewith the secondary vanes 40 is so adjusted thatprimary vanes 3E and secondary vanes ii] are in alignment. This positionis illustrated in Fig. 2 and obtains when flat-headed bolts 44 are atone limit of their permissible movement in slots 42. This end of theslot may be designated W, signifying a wide flame, and the other end ofthe slot may be designated N, signifying a narrow flame adjustment.

When the secondary vanes 40 are rotated out of alignment with primaryvanes 34, some of the air flowing inwardly from the periphery of the fancasing will not impinge upon the secondary vanes Ml and thus will beonly straightened. Another portion of the air flowing inwardly willimpinge upon both the primary vanes 34 and the secondary vane 40, and asa result of this impingement on secondary vane 40 the air so impingingwill be deflected into a rotary path. The combination of the two effectswill result in less clockwise rotation of the air in its entirety andthe angle of fire will be decreased.

As will be apparent from the description thus far, the angle of fire maybe varied from wide to "narrow by merely rotating the air guide plate 38from the position designated W toward the position designated N. This isaccomplished simply by removing bolts 22, which permits removal of fancasing cover 20. The three flatheaded screws 44 may then be loosened,the air guide casting rotated as desired, and the screws retightened.The casing cover 20 may then be replaced.

My improved arrangement, while not providing external adjustment,possesses the important advantage of simplicity and ruggedness whichmore than ofisets the complications inherent in devices earlierdescribed. It eliminates all possibility of rattling and all danger ofloss of adjustment in the vanes, a very frequent and undesirable featurewhich inheres in the various known mechanisms available for thispurpose. One or two trial adjustments of my construction will result inthe desired settings, although for most installations the constructionis such that 4 the wide or W position will prove most advantageous.

It should also be noted that air guide plate 38 with its integralsecondary vanes 40, eliminates the need for a separate baffle plate usedin conjunction with the continuous vanes of available devices. Suchbaffie plates are secured separately in the assembly and, in addition tothe vanes, constitute elements which must be serviced and regulated.

Having described a preferred embodiment of my invention, variousmodifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and for thatreason I wish to limit myself only Within the scope of the appendedclaims.

What I claim is:

1. In an oil burner, the combination of a casing means having alongitudinal axis and axially spaced walls, one of said walls having adischarge opening positioned transversely of the centered about saidlongitudinal axis, means for providing a source of air at the outerperiphery of the space between said spaced walls, air control meansincluding outer air control means leading from said source of air andinner air control means discharging at said discharge opening, saidouter air control means being positioned between said walls and defininginwardly extending primary air passages for channeling the fio-w of airfrom the outer periphery of said walls inwardly toward said inner aircontrol means, said inner air control means being positioned betweensaid walls and defining inwardly extending secondary air passages forchanneling the flow of air from the outlet of said outer air controlmeans to said discharge opening, said primary and secondary air passageswhen in alignment forming a plurality of continuous passages from theouter periphery of said walls to said discharge opening, and adjustingmeans for enabling predetermined disalignment of said primary andsecondary air passages for forming discontinuous passages, the air fromeach of said primary air passages being divided and passed through twoadjacent secondary air passages when said primary and secondary airpassages are disaligned.

2. In an oil burner, the combination of a casing means having alongitudinal axis and axially spaced walls, one of said walls having adis-' charge opening positioned transversely of and centered about saidlongitudinal axis, means for providing a source of fuel at said opening,means for providing a source of air at the outer periphery of the spacebetween said spaced walls, air control means including outer vanes andinner vanes, said outer vanes being positioned between said walls anddefining inwardly extending primary air passages for channeling the flowof air from the outer periphery of said walls inwardly toward said innervanes, said inner vanes being positioned between said walls and defininginwardly extending secondary air passages for channeling the flow of airfrom the outlet of said outer vanes to said discharge opening, saidprimary and secondary air passages when in alignment forming a pluralityof continuous passages from the outer periphery of said walls to saiddischarge opening, and adjusting means for enabling predetermineddisalignment of said primary and secondary air passages for formingdiscontinuous passages, the air from each of said primary air passagesbeing divided and passed through two adjacent secondary air passageswhen said primary and secondary air passages are disaligned.

3. In an oil burner in accordance with claim 2 and wherein said outervanes are contoured to control the flow of air thereover in a mannersuch that the flow is urged in a direction along said longitudinal axisand wherein said inner vanes are contoured to control the flow of airthereover in a manner such that the air is urged to rotate about saidlongitudinal axis.

4. In an oil burner in accordance with claim 3 and wherein said meansfor providing a source of air at the outer periphery of the spacebetween said spaced walls comprises a blower operable to create a flowof air in a circular path.

5. In an oil burner the combination of a casing means with alongitudinal axis having a cover and a wall plate axially spaced fromsaid cover, said cover having a discharge opening potioned transverselyof and centered about said longitudinal axis, means for providing asource of fuel at said opening, a blower mounted in said casing operableto create air flow in a circular path at the outer periphery of thespace between said cover and said wall plate, air control meansincluding outer and inner air control means, said outer air controlmeans comprising identical, arcuate, primary vanes circumferential- 1yspaced around and integral with said cover, said primary vanes definingprimary air passages for channeling the flow of air from said outerperiphery toward said inner air control means, said inner air controlmeans comprising identical, arcuate, secondary vanes circumferentiallyspaced around and integral with said wall plate, said secondary vanesdefining secondary air passages for channeling the flow of air from saidprimary air passages to said discharge opening, said primary andsecondary vanes when in alignment forming a plurality of continuouspassages from said outer periphery to said discharge opening, andadjusting means for enabling predetermined disalignment of said primaryand secondary air passages for forming discontinuous passages, the airfrom each of said primary air passages being divided and passed throughtwo adjacent secondary air passages when said primary and secondary airpassages are disaligned.

6. In an oil burner in accordance with claim 5 and wherein said primaryvanes are contoured to control the flow of air thereover in a mannersuch that the flow is urged from its circular path into a directionalong said longitudinal axis and wherein said secondary vanes arecontoured to control the flow of air thereover in a manner such that theair is urged to rotate about said longitudiinal axis in a circular pathcounter to its original direction of movement.

7. In an oil burner in accordance with claim 6 and said cover havingcircumferentially spaced, internally threaded lugs, said wall platehaving arcuate slots at circumferentially spaced locations correspondingto the lugs on said cover, and bolts extending through said slots intosaid lugs, thereby enabling alignment or predetermined disalignment ofsaid primary and secondary vanes.

8. In an oil burner in accordance with claim 7 and wherein said meansfor providing a source of fuel comprises a rotatable oil atomizing cuphaving its axis aligned with said longitudinal axis.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 2,108,621 Straitz Feb. 15, 1938 2,165,191 Kucher July 4, 19392,280,638 Ruff Apr. 21, 1942 2,314,572 Chitz Mar. 23, 1943 2,351,516Jandasek June 13, 1944 2,522,131 Ravnsbeck Sept. 12, 1950

